Which Pulls You In More, Good Story Telling or Good Writing?

Yesterday my husband and I debated whether good writing held more weight than good storytelling, or was the converse more important?

We decided that a book could be written with the eloquence of Hemingway's prose, but if the story is boring, the reader will put it down. Conversely, if the story is great, it's likely the reader will be pulled in and they'll miss some of the errors in the writing. Don't get me wrong, if the prose is riddled with misspelled words and the syntax and grammar are in the toilet, then of course, that might be a deal breaker.

We also concluded that beautifully written page-turners are few and far between. They're the rare gems that stand the test of time, like Tolkien's The Hobbit or a more modern example might be Harry Potter. But this is only two people's opinions. I'd be interested to know what you all think? Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? Until next time, happy writing and reading.

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